Go back, go right, time to go through again!
by Naruto the Kyubi
Summary: Challenge from Robin.exe. Naruto almost dies in the final battle but Kyubi manages to send him, Sakura and Hinata back in time to the day of team assignments. Naruto/Harem
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did Kyūbi would be female.**

**A/N: Here's my first story and it's a challenge from Robin . exe to see the details visit their profile.**

* * *

><p>"S-Sakura-chan, H-Hinata-chan," Naruto started shakily. He was lying on his back in the middle of a large crater in what used to be a lush forest with Sakura and Hinata at his side. They were all that was left of the Allied Shinobi Forces. Tobi and his army of reincarnated ninja and Zetsu clones had, mere hours ago, overpowered them and wiped most of them out.<p>

"Naruto don't talk, save your energy," Sakura said as she concentrated on healing the massive hole in his chest. Said hole was the result of a Chidori attack from Sasuke whose dead body was lying a few feet away.

"You h-have to get out of here," he said meekly while trying to push them away. "H-He'll be here an-any se-second."

"We're not leaving you Naruto-kun," Hinata stated as she bandaged his broken leg. Just as she finished she and Sakura were flung high into the air by an invisible force before slamming back down.

"You should have listened to him," Tobi stated as he walked closer, two of his remaining Jinchūriki Paths followed behind him. He held his hand out and for Hinata and Sakura it suddenly felt like the entire world was being pushed down on them. Cracks formed across the ground as they were pushed into the Earth with tremendous force.

"N-Naruto," Sakura coughed out. The pressure was breaking bones and her internal organs were about to explode but she still found the energy to grab onto his right hand.

"I...love you...Naruto-kun," Hinata said through the pain and she grabbed his left hand. And then the pressure just vanished like it was never there. Both girls were panting but even that proved difficult as their lungs had almost burst. Sakura knew straight away that they would die in a few hours without treatment due to the immense amount of stress Tobi had put on their vital organs.

"I think I'll send your friends to another dimension so you can watch them die as the Kyūbi is extracted from you," he said manically as he grabbed onto Hinata's and Sakura's arms, just as Tobi was about to send his friends to a different dimension Naruto was pulled into a very familiar sewer. Standing in front of him, well behind a cage, was the Kyūbi no Kitsune.

"What do you want?" the blonde asked.

"**I don't want **_**that **_**man to control me again nor do I want to become part of the Jūbi again," **the fox stated.

"I can't stop him! He's going to kill Hinata-chan and Sakura-chan then rip you out of me!" he shouted angrily.

"**I know a jutsu that will send you and your two friends back in time by five hours. That should be enough time to prepare for the invasion of Zetsu and your battle with him. If you pull it off you, your **_**precious people **_**and, more importantly, I will be safe."**

"What do I have to do?" he asked, his voice was filled with hope.

"**You'll have to loosen your seal a little so you can access more of my chakra otherwise, with the amount of chakra you have right now, you will die. After that simply let my chakra travel throughout your body and then you grab onto your friends and I'll do the rest. You will wake up five hours ago with knowledge of what happened. However the other two may forget about what happened and won't remember unless you trigger a memory such as reminding the Hyūga of her cousin's death."**

"Alright I got it," Naruto said as he walked towards the Torii Seal. He loosened the seal a bit and a stream of red chakra flowed out towards Naruto. The blonde exited his subconscious and returned to the real world, he instantly grabbed Hinata and Sakura then yanked them out of Tobi's grasp. Just as Kyūbi activated the space-time jutsu Tobi activated his own in a desperate attempt to prevent the jinchūriki escaping him.

* * *

><p>'<em>Kyūbi didn't say anything about getting a massive headache,' <em>Naruto thought as he woke up. However as he was getting up he realized he hadn't been sleeping in a tent in a warzone, he had been sleeping in his apartment. He got out of bed and realized three things; one his apartment was extremely messy, two he was way shorter and three was that this was the day after the Mizuki incident if the calendar was correct.

"Stupid fox must have messed up," Naruto said out loud to himself. "Oh well at least this gives me more time to get stronger and possibly even save Sasuke."

_XXX Later at the Academy XXX_

Naruto had arrived a few minutes before team assignment and took a seat next to Hinata, not wanting a repeat of what happened the first time and wanting to sit next to his friend.

"Hi Hinata-chan," Naruto said, in his usual fashion, loudly. The heiress's face turned bright red at the fact he called her chan and he was sitting next to her, the only thing keeping her from fainting was the embarrassment of possibly ending up lying on top of him.

"H-Hi N-Naruto-kun," she replied softly.

'_She must not remember what happened so she's back to her old self,' _Naruto thought after hearing her stutter. _'I have to get her to remember.'_

"Hey Hinata-chan I have to tell you something important," Naruto said.

'_Maybe he wants to tell me he loves me,' _she thought while even more blood rushed to her face.

"W-What is it y-you w-want to t-tell me N-Naruto-kun?" she asked timidly. He leaned forward so his mouth was only inches from her ear, they were so close she could feel his body heat. She was on the verge of fainting but desperately needed to hear what he has to tell her.

"Hinata-chan, your cousin Neji was killed in front of you," he whispered, her face suddenly turned from bright red to pale white, her eyes widened and tears started to form in the corners of her eyes. She remembered the sight of Neji's dead and mangled body and Naruto could see she remembered but she hadn't remembered everything yet and he needed to push a bit more even though he didn't want to hurt her like this. "So was your sister, Hanabi, and your father, Hiashi. Your entire clan was wiped out in front of you by an army of Zetsu clones."

"I-I," was all she managed to say before she started crying into her hands. Naruto was about to comfort her but he was pulled away from the heiress by his soon-to-be teammate Sakura who was holding him by his collar.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HER YOU JERK!" she demanded rather than asked. Naruto looked around the room and could see he had gained the attention of the entire class. All of them seemed ready to hurt him if he said the wrong thing.

"Sakura-san its fine," Hinata said even though she still had tears streaming down her face. "Naruto-kun just told me something I needed to hear."

"Are you sure you're ok, Hinata?" Sakura asked, not noticing the heiress's lack of a stutter.

"Don't worry he didn't hurt me in any way," she said. The pinkette let go of her grip around the blonde's collar and walked back to her seat next to Sasuke only to find Ino had stolen it.

"Alright class it's time for team assignments!" Iruka announced as entered the room. The genin that had been watching Naruto turned their attention to Iruka as he went through the teams. "Team 7 has Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyūga and Sakura Haruno. Team 8 is Sasuke Uchiha, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. Team 9 is still active. And lastly Team 10 consists of Ino Yamanaka, Chōji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara. Your new jōnin-sensei will be here shortly until then please stay here. The only thing left to say is congratulations and good luck in your ninja careers."

"Thank you Iruka-sensei," most of the class said as their former teacher exited the class room.

"Naruto-kun, how did we go back in time?" Hinata asked quietly after every other team had left and Sakura was sitting as far away from them as possible.

"Kyūbi used a jutsu to send us back in time but we were only supposed to back five hours, I guess the reason we went back by nearly 4 years is because the fox messed it up," he answered.

"Ok but how did I end up on the same team as you and Sakura-san?" Hinata asked.

"I went to see Jiji this morning about team arrangements and managed to _convince_ him to put us on the same team," he said while remembering the old man trying to refuse his Sexy Jutsu.

"WHERE THE HELL IS OUR SENSEI? I COULD BE TALKING TO SASUKE-KUN RIGHT NOW BUT I HAVE TO WAIT!" Sakura shouted after they reached the half hour waiting point. Naruto knew that Kakashi still wouldn't show up for another two and a half hours and Sakura's rant made him realize something. If he didn't get her to remember her past/future life now he might not get another chance until Wave.

"Hey Sakura-chan I have something to ask you," Naruto said happily.

"It better not be for another date," she threatened coldly.

"I was just wondering if you remembered when Sasuke tried to kill you?" he asked casually. Sakura stared at him before growing angry at his lie about _her _Sasuke-kun; she moved to hit him but froze when she remembered the event clearly. She remembered trying to kill Sasuke after his battle with Danzō but she froze and just as he tried killing her Naruto saved her with Kakashi arriving soon after. All the events that led up to that moment exploded into her mind as well as everything that happened after.

"Sakura-chan, are you ok?" Naruto asked in a panic, the pinkette had fallen to the floor unconscious.

"I'm sure she's fine Naruto-kun it was probably just the strain of all those memories," Hinata said calmly. "I'm sure she'll come around soon."

"Ok but wait if that's the case why didn't you faint?"

"Hmmm ... I don't know," she replied causing the blonde to face-fault. "By the way Naruto-kun why did you put us all on the same team?"

"Well I thought we could help each other get our strengths back. Plus Sasuke can't learn the Chidori now so if he decides to leave the village again he'll be easier to capture."

"That's pretty smart of you Naruto-kun," Hinata said happily.

"Thanks," he replied.

"Uh my head," Sakura grumbled as she slowly got up. "It feels like the time I tried to out drink Tsunade-sensei."

"Sakura-chan you're finally awake," Naruto announced happily.

"Yeah, uh Naruto-kun how did we end up back in time?" she asked.

The blonde sighed before explaining how they were sent back in time by Kyūbi and what he did to get them on the same team. At the end of it Sakura simply stood up and walked to the closest wall.

"Sakura-chan, what are you doing?" Naruto asked, confused by her sudden behaviour.

"We know Kakashi-sensei won't be here for about two hours and my chakra reserves are back to nothing so I was going to get a head start on my training," she explained before beginning to walk up the wall using chakra.

"Good point," Naruto and Hinata said before both of them walked over to join Sakura in training.

Two hours later Kakashi Hatake was expecting to walk in on an empty room or three angry, or at least annoyed, genin but instead he arrived at the sight of his three genin students performing the tree-walking exercise. They didn't seem to notice him because they continued repeating the exercise.

"This is interesting," he said aloofly causing his students to turn their attention to him. Instead of shouting at him for being late they simply stared at him, expecting him to finish his statement. "It's not every day you see newly graduated genin practising this exercise."

"Jiji once told me about it and I told these two how to do it," Naruto lied to avoid suspicion.

"Ok but why are you practising now?"

"Well we figured you'd be late after the first half hour so we decided to train in the meantime," Sakura said.

"You didn't have any trouble did you" the copy-nin asked, hoping he could pass these guys before the actual test.

"I had trouble at first because I couldn't control my chakra properly so Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan helped me out because they got it perfect the first time," Naruto lied again, although he did find his chakra control was back to where it had been at this point; almost none existent.

"Alright then why don't we introduce ourselves?" he asked. "I'll go first. My name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes are none of your concern, my dislikes I don't feel like telling you, my hobbies I don't really have any and my dream I've never really thought about it. You next pinkie."

"My name's Sakura Haruno, my likes are none of your concern, my dislikes I don't feel like telling you, my hobbies I don't really have any and my dream I've never really thought about it."

"My name's Hinata Hyūga, my likes are none of your concern, my dislikes I don't feel like telling you, my hobbies I don't really have any and my dream I've never really thought about it."

"And my name is Naruto Uzumaki, my likes are none of your concern, my dislikes I don't feel like telling you, my hobbies I don't really have any and my dream I've never really thought about it," he finished causing Kakashi to sweat drop at his team's lame introductions.

'_Did I really sound that lame?' _he questioned as scanned over his genin. _'Oh well so far they've shown excellent team work and I guess I could pass them on what I've seen so far.'_

"Well now that introductions are over why don't you guys take the day off and tomorrow meet me at the third training ground at six in the morning for missions," he said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

* * *

><p><strong>END<strong>

**Sorry if this chapter seemed a bit crap but I wanted to get it out within a week of accepting the challenge so I rushed it a bit. The next chapter will take longer for me to get out because of Christmas shopping and my family's going to be coming round for the holidays sometime in the next few weeks so I have to start cleaning. Not to mention my friends want to make a clan on MW3 and if that happens I'm going to have to help make montages.**

**Anyway the list for the harem is below (It's in no particular order and I may change it as time goes on):**

**Hinata**

**Sakura**

**Tayuya**

**Kin**

**Guren**

**Tsunade (I'll make her young again)**

**Mei Terumī**

**Female Haku**

**Temari**

**Kurotsuchi**

**Samui**

**Female Kyūbi**

**I'll probably make a poll for more girls so I suggest you leave a suggestion for me to add whichever girl/s you like to the poll however I'll only accept suggestions from signed reviewers.**


	2. Chapter 2

It has been a month since Team 7 started going on missions and they followed the same routine everyday; Naruto, Sakura and Hinata would show up at Training Ground 3 at six in the morning and those three would practise the water-walking and tree-walking exercises as well as their own personal jutsu, then Kakashi would show up around noon and they'd go on D-rank missions for a few hours before doing some training in teamwork and then go home.

Naruto had managed to relearn the Rasengan in half the time it took originally thanks to his clones and improved chakra control. He had also managed to relearn the Giant Rasengan but he could only use it twice a day due to the massive amount of chakra it consumed and the Kyūbi still hadn't awoken from its slumber yet. He had also been trying to master his Wind Affinity again but it was still slow progress.

Sakura had regained her medical ninjutsu and her chakra-enhanced taijutsu, but both weren't anywhere near as powerful as they had been and they caused her to grow tired quickly because of her low reserves.

And Hinata had been trying to relearn her style of Gentle Fist attacks but they weren't as powerful because of her lower chakra reserves and this caused her to grow tired quickly if she only used the more powerful attacks.

However all three of them kept their training secret otherwise they would start getting unwanted questions.

Currently Naruto was arguing with the Hokage about getting a more challenging mission rather than the simple D-Rank missions they had been receiving. They had just captured Tora _again _and they were itching to do the Wave mission.

"Come on, can't you give us a C-Rank mission?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto you've only been a genin for a month, trust me when I say you're not yet experienced enough," Iruka said.

"How are we going to get any experience by doing chores?" the blonde half shouted, half asked.

"Naruto every day we receive requests from babysitting to assassination and then we..." the Hokage started before being cut off.

"And then you rank them A-D Rank and only the ninja with enough experience can take those missions," Naruto said. "Jōnin can take any rank mission, chūnin can go on B-D Rank ones and genin can go on C or D Rank missions."

"Correct but only experienced genin can go on C-Rank missions," Hiruzen replied.

"But Lord Hokage we already have a month of experience," Sakura said. '_Plus we have nearly four years worth of experience on top of that.'_

"What about you Hinata, you've been quiet throughout this entire argument?" the old man asked.

"I think we could handle a C-Rank mission," she answered.

"And you Kakashi?"

"I think we could easily complete a C-Rank mission, Lord Hokage," the jōnin answered.

"Alright then, send in the client," Hiruzen said.

"These brats are supposed to protect me?" Tazuna asked sceptically as he walked into the room.

"Well what do you expect when you pay for a C-Rank?" Naruto countered.

"Don't worry, I'm a jōnin so you'll be safe if these guys can't handle any bandits we come across, which I doubt," Kakashi said to reassure their client.

"So when are we leaving?" Hinata asked.

"We'll leave in an hour; pack enough things for a month then meet at the Main Gate and don't be late."

"You can't exactly talk about being late sensei," Sakura stated while heading back to her home to pack. Naruto and Hinata followed while Tazuna was thinking about telling the truth about the perils that they may encounter on the mission.

XXX 2 Hours Later XXX

The group of 4 ninja and 1 bridge-builder had been walking for an hour towards the Land of Waves. Naruto and Sakura were on edge, though they didn't show it, because knew that their encounter with the Demon Brothers would happen soon while Hinata was discreetly looking out for the puddle. Kakashi was walking with Tazuna and talking about how the ranking system worked in the ninja world but did notice that his students were on their toes. He quickly summed it up to this being the first time they were outside of the village and they were being overly cautious. He noticed a puddle up ahead and immediately realized it was a disguise but he'd have to wait to see who their target was.

As the Konoha group passed Gōzu and his twin, Meizu, emerged from the puddle. Meizu threw his brother at the group and the twins managed to ensnare Kakashi in their shuriken chain.

"Do it!" Gōzu shouted as he and his twin yanked the chain in opposite directions, slicing the jōnin into pieces.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Hinata shouted out of shock.

"You're next," Meizu said as he and his brother moved in to finish of Naruto. The blonde ducked underneath the chain and proceeded to sweep the missing-nins' legs. Both of them jumped away but while they were in the air Hinata threw three kunai at their chain, imbedding it in a tree behind them. The demon brothers released the chain and charged forwards, one going after Naruto and the other going for Tazuna. As Meizu moved to kill the bridge-builder Sakura moved in front of him, however before he could get in range he was sent flying the right after his brother had been thrown into him by the blonde.

"Don't every attack Sakura-chan or Hinata-chan again if you value your lives," Naruto stated while glaring at the Demon Brothers.

"Let's finish of that brat," Gōzu said but before he could get up to attack he slumped to the floor unconscious with Meizu soon doing the same. Standing behind them was Kakashi.

"H-How are you?" Tazuna began to ask before looking over to the shredded pieces of the man in front of him only to see a shredded log.

"Kakashi-sensei used the Replacement Jutsu," Naruto clarified.

"Good work guys," the jōnin praised while tying the two chūnin to a tree. "I'm glad your teamwork is as good as it is or I'd have had to step in sooner. These guys use poison in their clawed gauntlets so have any of you gotten scratched?"

"Nope," Sakura said after examining herself.

"I don't," Hinata said after doing the same.

"I go a small scratch," Naruto said, showing the shallow cut on the back of hand. He got it as he threw Gōzu at his brother. _'Guess some things have to stay the same.'_

"With that small a dose of poison you won't die but you could get seriously sick so we need to remove it as soon as possible," Kakashi said as he approached.

"Kakashi-sensei I know some medical-ninjutsu," Sakura said.

"Sakura please try to remove the poison," he said before turning to Tazuna. "Tazuna we need to have a talk."

"What are you talking about?" the bridge-builder asked.

"Those two were disguised, quite badly, as a puddle. I could have taken them out straight away but I needed to learn who their target was, whether it was ninja attacking ninja or they were after something. From what I observed they were after you. I don't care what your reasons are but lying to us was a bad idea. If we knew we'd encounter ninja this would be a B-Ranked mission at least."

"Please you have to understand, The Land of Waves is under the control of a man named Gatō and he's made the country poor and I could only afford to pay for a C-Rank," Tazuna begged.

"Gatō as in the shipping company?" Naruto suddenly asked while Sakura finished healing his hand.

"That's only a front; secretly he's a drug dealer and owns a smuggling company," the bridge-builder said. "He came to the Land of Waves a year ago and he took control of the shipping routes and cut off free imports and exports. But my bridge will change that; once the bridge is complete we'll be able to freely deal with the main land and bring an end to Gatō's tyranny."

"Well then we'd better get to the Land of Waves quickly so you can finish the bridge," Hinata said.

"Hinata's right instead of waiting around here we should get moving," Sakura exclaimed.

"I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't help people so desperate!" Naruto shouted.

"Looks like a unanimous decision," Kakashi said with an eye-smile.

T-Thank you," Tazuna said with tears streaming down his face.

"Come on you can't go soft on us old man," Naruto said while smiling.

"We'll leave these two here for someone to pick up," Kakashi said while glancing at the unconscious forms of the Demon Brothers.

"Alright let's go!" Naruto shouted before the group continued their journey to the Land of Waves.

XXX Unknown Location XXX

"What do you mean they were defeated!" a short business man shouted at a shirtless man with a giant sword. "I thought you guys were professional assassins that's why I hired you!"

"Stop whining," the missing-nin stated before drawing his massive sword and holding it inches away from Gatō's neck. "Next time I'll go myself."

"You sure about that? Apparently Tazuna's hired a high level ninja to guard him. And they'll be expecting more. It'll take someone with advanced skills an-"

"Who do you think you're dealing with? I am Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist."

* * *

><p><strong>END<strong>

**A/N: I managed to get this chapter out **_**way**_** sooner than I thought but I will admit this chapter is shorter than the last by about 900 words but what do you expect from two days of work? Anyway I've got 3 exams (Maths, English and ICT) this week so I've got to study everything last minute plus the things I mentioned last chapter so I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again, hopefully within 3-8 days. **

**With that out of the way I'm going to answer some questions reviews:**

**darkassassin619: I'd need to get Robin . exe's (Sorry but I have to spell your name like this or it gets deleted for some weird reason) permission before adding any of those girls because it is his/her challenge.**

**Reaper: I'm sorry but, as I stated before, I only accept suggestions from signed reviews (People who sign in).**

**ferduran: I'm still thinking of adding Shizuka to the harem so I'll put her in the poll (Which I will make when I release Chapter 4 and close when I release chapter 8)**

**That's it for questions and Thank You to everyone who's reviewed.**


	3. Chapter 3

Naruto kept scanning his surroundings but couldn't see much due to the thick fog surrounding the boat. He could barely see the giant bridge they were travelling along. As he looked up he began reminiscing about what happened the first time he was on this mission; the two fights with Zabuza, the talk with Haku, watching Zabuza destroy Gatō and scaring off his army of thugs on the bridge and finally the both of them dying.

'_If they hadn't worked for that piece of trash they'd probably have lived,' _he thought as he looked at the bridge.

That's when it hit him; why did Zabuza and Haku work for the gangster? They were probably being paid a lot judging from the way Gatō acted but what were their intentions for the profit? They didn't seem like the kind of people who want to get so rich they never have lift a finger again and he doubted they would give it away to poor people. So what were they going to do with it? Kakashi had said that Zabuza had once tried to kill the Mizukage but did that mean that he was going to use the money to try again?

"We're getting close," the boatman said bringing Naruto out of his thoughts. "We're lucky we haven't been spotted so far."

"Nice going," Tazuna said. The boat entered the tunnel and emerged into the open moments later. The boatman steered the boat to a nearby pier where Tazuna and his bodyguards got off. "Thank you for taking such a risk."

"Just be careful," the boatman said before switching the engine on and departing.

"Take me to my home in one piece," the bridge-builder said, the ninja nodded and they started the journey to Tazuna's home.

XXX Half an Hour Later XXX

The group was now walking through a forest; Kakashi was walking along lazily, Sakura and Hinata were watching out for threats and Naruto was pondering on his thoughts about Haku and Zabuza. Sakura sped up a little so she was standing next to Naruto.

"Naruto-kun we're near where Zabuza attacked us," she whispered, he nodded and started looking for the missing-nin. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a bush rustle ever so slightly

"Over there!" he shouted while throwing a kunai at the bush. He went over to check only to see a white rabbit.

"You little brat you scared me!" Tazuna shouted angrily.

'_Damn I forgot about the rabbit,' _Naruto thought as he went to check on it.

"Everyone get down!" Kakashi suddenly shouted. Everyone dropped to the floor just as a giant sword flew over their heads and embedded itself deeply into a tree. Out of said tree dropped a man with no eyebrows that landed on the hilt of the sword.

"Hand over the bridge-builder," he said.

"Zabuza Momochi, if you're going to be our opponent I'll need this," Kakashi said as he moved his hand up to his headband. He lifted it up to his forehead revealing his Sharingan eye.

"So if I want the bridge-builder I have to go through you, Copy-ninja," Zabuza stated rather than asked. Slowly a veil of mist started to surround the area and became thicker with each passing moment. Zabuza yanked his sword out of the tree and disappeared into the mist.

"He'll come after me first," Kakashi announced. "Get in the Manji Formation."

"Ok," the three genin said as they quickly got into position. Hinata activated her Byakugan and immediately saw the chakra signatures of everyone within the area. She was surprised to see Zabuza about to jump into the middle of their formation but just as he was about to jump Hinata threw a kunai into the Missing-nin's chest but instead of blood, water flowed from the pen wound. 'Zabuza' exploded into water, revealing itself to be a Water Clone.

"Kakashi-sensei he's behind you!" Hinata shouted. The jōnin turned just as Zabuza brought down his sword and sliced clean through him however 'Kakashi' exploded into water.

"Don't move," the real Kakashi said as he appeared behind Zabuza with a kunai to his neck.

"So while the Hyūga took out my first clone you copied my Water Clone Jutsu and had it stand out in the open while you hid in the mist," the ex-Mist ninja said.

"Zabuza Wait!" Naruto suddenly shouted, normally Zabuza wouldn't listen to a brat but the urgency in his voice made him stop.

"What do you want, brat?" he asked.

"I can't figure out why you work for a guy like Gatō," he said. "He's obviously paying you a lot but what are you going to do with the money?"

"A few years ago a war started in Kiri between those with Kekkai Genkai and those without," he started. "People in that village have always feared Kekkai Genkai until eventually there was mass genocide. The rebellion is trying to regain control of Kiri so that it will put an end to that. I'm going to use the money to recruit help from other Hidden Villages for the rebellion."

"But you don't have to work for a thug like Gatō," Naruto said adamantly. "If you went to Konoha you could ask old man Hokage for help."

"A missing-nin like me would be killed before I even see the gates."

"Then let us complete this mission and then you can return to Konoha with us," Sakura said, already catching onto what Naruto was trying to do. "If you come with us you'd be safe."

"Unfortunately that isn't a risk I can take, if he denies my request for help it would have been a waste of time and I'd probably lose my life."

"I'm sure if you explain to him what's happened he'd be able to send aid," Kakashi said. "And if he doesn't I'll personally make sure you get out of the Land of Fire without a scratch."

"Alright I'll agree to your offer," Zabuza said after thinking about it for a few minutes. Kakashi placed his kunai back in his pouch and covered his Sharingan while Zabuza returned the sword to his back. "I should let you know I have an apprentice of sorts that will want to come with us to Konoha."

"Don't worry I'm sure both of you will be fine," Kakashi said. "Tazuna how long will it finish for you to finish the bridge?"

"About a month with the amount of workers that are brave enough to finish construction," the master bridge-builder said.

"Is there any way we can speed it up?" Zabuza asked.

"If you can get a few hundred workers and work near constantly we could finish it by next week."

"I think I can help with that," Naruto said while smirking.

"What's so special about you brat?"

"I thought you'd say that, Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" the blonde shouted, the area was suddenly filled with hundreds of blondes wearing orange. "Does that answer your question?"

"Impressive," Tazuna stated with wide eyes while Zabuza did the same. Naruto dispelled the clones and turned to his sensei.

"If you're done showing off," Kakashi said before turning to the Mist-nin. "Zabuza you said you had an apprentice where are they exactly?"

"Haku, come out here now," the eyebrow-less man commanded, in a swirl of leaves a person dressed in tracker-nin clothes appeared. "Haku we are going to help protect these Konoha-nin for the remainder of their mission and then we will go to Konoha to plead for aid in the Bloodline War."

"Understood," the now identified Haku said with a young, feminine voice.

'_Judging from their voice and body she's a girl around Naruto's age,' _Kakashi thought.

"Hey are there going to be any more people after me?" Tazuna asked cutting off Kakashi's thoughts.

"Gatō hired me and a small army of thugs but they shouldn't be any trouble," Zabuza answered. "I'd say with me and Kakashi protecting you you're safe as Gatō's money."

"Good, my homes a little further down the road," he said before walking forward with the ninja behind him.

Upon arriving at Tazuna's house the ninja were introduced to his daughter, Tsunami, and his grandson, Inari. Tazuna, Kakashi and Zabuza started making plans for the bridge while Tsunami and Haku went to buy food in the local town and Naruto, Sakura and Hinata went into the woods to train.

* * *

><p>"Naruto-kun me and Hinata have been talking recently," Sakura suddenly said after about two hours of training.<p>

"About what?" Naruto asked

"About our relationship with you," Hinata said with a slight blush on her face, since she confessed to him during Pain's attack she blushed and stuttered a lot less around the blonde. "We both want to date you but we don't want to hurt each other so we decided that, if you want to, you could date both of us."

"But wouldn't that be weird for you guys?" Naruto asked.

"Well after everything we've been through together we didn't think something like sharing you would be so difficult," Sakura said. "And besides I once heard Tsunade-sensei say you would have to take part in the Clan Restoration Act because you are the last person to carry Namikaze, Uzumaki and, after herself, Senju blood. But I don't know if she was serious or not because she had been drinking like a fish for five hours before she said that."

"Well I'm ok with it as long as you girls are as well," Naruto replied while smiling, after that Hinata gave him a deep kiss and then Sakura did the same. "I-I think we should head back now."

* * *

><p><strong>END<strong>

**A/N: ****Again a short chapter but after this I'll try making them longer. **

**I hope you like how I made Zabuza and Haku actions help the Kekkai Genkai side of the Bloodline War, if not then deal with it. I also want to apologize if the scene where they discuss their feelings was rubbish but in my defence I wrote it almost straight after my English exam on Of Mice and Men **and I have been a bit depressed for the last few days because my dog, Rebbeca, died on Monday morning aged 13 years, 4 months**.**

**Anyway before I reply to reviews I want to say that some people seem to be a bit confused; the list for the harem at the end of Chapter 1 is the actual list of girls in the harem. Maybe people don't read my A/Ns but if you vote for girls already in the harem you look stupid and any voting should be done on the poll I'll post next chapter instead of in a review. By the way you have 4-7 days to suggest girls for the harem that aren't already in the harem and if you leave an anonymous review I will ****not**** accept your suggestions.**

**Review replies:**

**Death5367: Yes**

**Narjiro: I will add Karin to the poll**

**(Blank): I focus on Naruto because he's the main character. He doesn't tell the Hokage about the future because he'd look like a loon. If you want to know what happens in the Sand-Sound invasion wait for me to get to that point. And, as I've already stated, I don't accept anonymous reviews.**

**That's it for reviews; next chapter the bridge is finished, they confront Gatō and they go back to Konoha to plead for aid in the Bloodline War.**

**As always thanks for the reviews.**


	4. Chapter 4

"What took you guys so long to get back?" Kakashi asked his students as they entered the house. "I hope you weren't doing anything you'd find in my IchaIcha."

"Shut up we were just training like we do when we're waiting for you to show up!" Sakura shouted while Naruto and Hinata were in the background with bright red faces.

"If you say so," Kakashi said before turning back to his book with a perverted giggle.

"Food's ready!" Tsunami called from the kitchen. Kakashi put his book away and entered the kitchen with his students to see Tazuna, Zabuza and Haku already seated while Tsunami was setting out dishes. Sakura sat at the end of the table with Naruto to her right and Hinata between Naruto and Haku.

"So what training did you guys do out in the woods?" Kakashi asked.

"I was practising the Gentle Fist," Hinata said.

"I was sparring against Sakura-chan/Naruto-kun," Naruto and Sakura said at the same time.

"What were the conditions?" Zabuza asked.

"All-out and taijutsu only," the blonde said.

"A bit boring isn't it?"

"Well we can't have a spar in anything else," Sakura explained. "I only know medical-ninjutsu and some genjutsu where as Naruto knows a lot of ninjutsu but no genjutsu and has very poor taijutsu."

"That seems to be a deep assessment of Naruto's skills Sakura have you two been spending some _alone time_?" Kakashi asked, poking fun at his students. "Or has Hinata joined in as well?"

"It's not like that," Sakura said defensively while Naruto and Hinata turned bright red before Hinata fainted at the thought of what her sensei meant by _alone time_ with Naruto AND Sakura.

"Is that usual?" Haku asked her master while pointing at the passed out form of the Hyūga heiress with a trail of blood running down her nose.

"Is it?" Zabuza asked Kakashi after taking a few bites from his meal.

"Yep and maybe next time they have _alone time _Haku can join in as well," Kakashi joked. Hinata, who had just recovered, was again knocked out at the images of _alone time_ only this time with Haku added in.

"Shut up you PERVERT!" Sakura practically screamed. While Kakashi was dazed by the scream Naruto snatched his IchaIcha and tossed it to Sakura who tore the hardback in half and then those halves into quarters with her bare hands.

XXX Same time in a women's only hot spring in Land of Fire XXX

"I think someone just destroyed a copy of my limited edition hardback IchaIcha Paradise!" a super pervert shouted causing the women he was spying on to become aware of his peeping on them. The result being a bloody and broken Toad Sage that was barely conscious.

XXX Back to the Land of Waves XXX

"Are you feeling better now Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Yes thank you Naruto-kun," she replied. Throughout this whole ordeal Tazuna and Tsunami watched the scene while eating their food, not sure what to think of them.

"W-What happened," Hinata asked as she recovered.

"Just Sakura destroying my precious, limited edition IchaIcha," Kakashi said, dejectedly, with a dark cloud around his head but it lifted almost instantly. "I guess I'll just have to spy on you guys while you're alone."

"You can if you want but you won't see us doing anything you'd find in one of those books," Naruto said. At that moment Inari walked into the room while glaring at the ninja.

"Inari, where have you been?" Tsunami questioned in a motherly voice, her son ignored her and continued to glare.

"Why are you even trying?" he finally said after a few moments. "Nothing you guys do will make a difference, Gatō's too powerful. If you keep trying he'll just kill you."

"Inari!" Tsunami shouted, growing angry at his disrespect. "These ninja are going to protect your grandfather until he finishes the bridge. They're going to help us through these hard times."

"Yeah right, Gatō will kill them before the end of the week."

"Listen you little brat, no matter how many thugs that midget hires they're no match for two jōnin, heck these three genin and Haku could deal with them easily," Zabuza said angrily, enraged by the fact that the kid would think he would be taken down so easily.

"But he's too powerful; he's made us live like this and we have nothing!" Inari shouted at the ex-Swordsman of the Mist.

"Be quiet," Haku said; her voice as cold as the ice she uses. "You claim you have nothing but you have a loving mother and grandfather, a roof over your head, food to eat and clean water to drink. When I was your age I was living, no I was dying on the streets of a village in the Land of Water, an orphan, with nothing. So stop complaining about how bad your life is when other people have had it worse."

"That may have been a bad experience but we still have it worse!" he shouted, deluding himself into believing no one's life was worse than him.

"Open your eyes," Naruto stated. "Your life isn't as good as some others but at least you have a good life. Compared to mine and Haku's you're living the dream life."

"Shut up! You don't know what it's like living in a place Gatō controls!"

**(Sadness and Sorrow starts playing.)**

"It can't be worse than my life," Naruto said sadly. "Ever since the day I was born I was on my own because nearly everyone in the village saw me as a monster due to something that was out of my control. Every day I would receive glares of hate from the villagers and at night they would beat me within an inch of death. The nightly beatings continued until I entered the academy at age 6 but I still received the glares and on my birthdays people would beat me up until dawn, they still do. And I never knew my parents, for a lot of my life I thought that they abandoned me because they saw me as a monster as well. But even then I was happy because I had Jiji, Teuchi Oji-san and Ayame nē-chan. I thought that if someone as hated as me can get friends than I would be able to forget about the hate and concentrate on my happiness. So I tried everything I could to become acknowledged, I mostly pulled pranks on people and, for a time, I thought that worked but then I realized it wasn't helping so when I graduated I vowed to try and become the best ninja I could and when I was assigned to Squad 7 I was happy because Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan and Kakashi-sensei became my friends. And when we were assigned this mission I was happy because I thought people would acknowledge me for it but when I learned the reason for this mission I was even more happy because I could help people in need, I know what it's like to be alone and I hope no one ever has to be, even if I have to take the hate of the entire world just to make a few people happy I would."

**(Sadness and Sorrow stops)**

"You're lying there's no way anyone could have it that bad," Inari accused, that was more than Naruto could take.

Before anyone could blink Naruto held Inari up by his neck with his right hand cocked back to punch him. The small boy closed his eyes and braced himself for the punch but it never came. Naruto dropped him to the floor and turned away.

"People like you aren't even worth the effort," the jinchūriki muttered before walking out of the house. Inari ran upstairs to his room in tears the moment Naruto closed the door.

"I'm sorry about Inari's actions but he's been like that since Gatō killed his father," Tsunami said.

"Don't worry about it I'm sure Naruto is upset but he'll calm down," Sakura said reassuringly.

"Is it true, was his childhood that bad?" Tazuna asked.

"Sadly it was," Kakashi replied, his joking demeanour gone with his student out the door.

"What about yours?" Tsunami asked while looking at Haku who nodded in response. "What happened?"

"I come from the Yuki clan which was known for having a bloodline ability to control Ice and the clan was only located in the Land of Water," she began. "A few years ago there was the genocide of anyone with a bloodline so members of my clan went into hiding. My mother was one of them and when I awakened my bloodline my father, out of fear, killed my mother before attempting to kill me. But because I had no control over my powers and my need to live was so great my bloodline killed my father. After that I travelled to the nearest village. It was winter when Zabuza-sama found and saved me, if he hadn't I wouldn't be here."

"So you're her adoptive father?" Tsunami asked Zabuza.

"I guess you could put it that way," he answered, after that no one talked as they finished their food.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in the forest Naruto was lying down on the very top of a tree while looking up at the stars. Below him he had hundreds of clones work on the leaf-cutting exercise; he knew from experience that it would only be a week or so until he completed it. Other than the occasional groan of annoyance from his clones the night air was completely silent. As he was staring at the stars he began to reminisce about his friends in the future, how Kakashi and Guy had died taking down three of Tobi's Jinchūriki paths and the rest of the Konoha 11, except Sakura and Hinata, with Sai helped destroy one of the others before Sasuke killed them. In his rage about the loss of his friends Naruto blindly attacked Sasuke who used Susanoo to guard against his attacks. Eventually Sasuke used Chidori to break Naruto's leg and while he was down used Chidori to pierce his chest but he got close enough for Naruto to use Rasengan on the last Uchiha's heart, the last thing he saw before Sasuke died was his 'Eternal' Mangekyō Sharingan eyes.<p>

'_Maybe Sasuke won't reawaken his Sharingan because he's not on this mission,' _Naruto thought. _'If that's the case maybe Orochimaru won't take an interest in him but if he does and he puts the curse seal on Sasuke again I'll have to kill him.'_

"Naruto-kun!" two people shouted below, Naruto looked down to see Sakura and Hinata walk into the clearing filled with clones. He jumped off the branch he was on and landed on the ground below.

"Hey Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan," the blonde said happily. "What do you guys want? As you can see I'm in the middle of training."

"We were just wondering if you were still upset about what Inari said earlier," Sakura said.

"Oh that? I'm fine but Inari just got a little annoying," the blonde replied.

"So what's the plan because tomorrow the bridge will be finished?" Hinata asked.

"You guys go to the bridge and I'll stay here to look after Tsunami and Inari, after I deal with the thugs I'll go to the bridge."

"We know that already, Hinata meant we were wondering how we were gonna get Zabuza and Haku into Konoha and then get word to the Rebellion," Sakura said.

"I guess we'll just take Zabuza into Konoha and then talk to Jiji, I'm sure Zabuza must know where one of the bases are, so he should be able to set up a meeting point or something."

"Guess we'll go to bed are you coming?" Sakura asked.

"No, I'm gonna stay out here a train for a bit longer," Naruto replied.

"We'll see you at the bridge tomorrow," Hinata said as she and the pinkette turned and left. Naruto grabbed a leaf from the nearest tree and started focusing chakra.

XXX Next afternoon XXX

Naruto awoke to find himself in his bed at Tazuna's house and, surprisingly, Haku was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room, reading a book about medicine.

"Good you're awake," she said but her eyes never left the book. "I took care of a couple of samurai that were sent to kidnap Tsunami and the others have already gone to the bridge. I found you this morning asleep in a clearing in the forest and volunteered to look after you."

"How long have I been asleep?" Naruto asked.

"They left three hours ago and the samurai showed up half an hour ago," she replied. "I wouldn't worry about it though Inari's gone to the village to recruit help."

"Ok," Naruto said before getting out of bed and opened the window.

"What are you doing?" Haku asked.

"I'm going to the bridge," he replied simply.

"I just told you, you don't have to."

"Sorry but I ain't gonna just sit out this fight."

"By the time you get there the fight will be over."

"Well I can still attempt to be there otherwise I'll feel like I abandoned my friends," he said before jumping out of the window and started running as fast as he could towards the bridge. Haku quickly followed and easily kept up with him.

'_Damn I forgot how fast she is,' _Naruto thought.

"Here grab my hand," Haku said while offering her right hand, Naruto grabbed it and then Haku literally started dragging him towards the bridge as fast as she could, the whole time his face was scraping against the floor.

When they arrived they appeared at the sight of Zabuza and Squad 7 easily dispatching Gatō's thugs while the midget was cowering in fear.

"You didn't have to drag my face on the floor the entire time you know," Naruto said, annoyed. His face was covered in small cuts which were healing quickly.

"Sorry but it seemed the quickest way to get here," she replied. "You know you can let go of my hand now."

"Sorry," he blurted out while letting go of her hand like it was hot coal. Once he had Haku started going through one-handed hand seals.

"Secret Jutsu: A Thousand Needles of Death," Haku said, a thousand needles made of water surrounded the small army of hired mercenaries before all of the needles flew at them at high speed. None of the blows were fatal but they did break the bones in all of their arms and legs.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted and a hundred clones of the jinchūriki appeared. All of them drew kunai and charged at the defenceless men. Naruto quickly killed all of them before turning to Gatō, his eyes void of emotion. He took one step forward and the gangster started making offers.

"W-Wait I can give you money or power or land or women, anything you want just don't kill me," he said.

"Well there is one thing," the blonde said causing everyone, except Sakura and Hinata, on the bridge to be shocked at him accepting.

"What is it you want?" the gangster asked. To answer his question Naruto threw a kunai at him that stabbed his left lung. Gatō looked down at the kunai covered in his blood and realized there was something on the handle.

"Boom," Naruto said. The resulting explosion sent pieces of body everywhere. Naruto turned to look at the shocked faces of everyone. "You didn't seriously think I'd let that guy live do you?"

"Not for a second Naruto-kun," Sakura and Hinata said before both of them walked up to him and both of them kissed him.

"Anyway...let's clean up this mess," Kakashi said while pointing to the dead bodies. "And then we can finish the bridge."

"Of course Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said before the clones he still hadn't dispelled started grabbing the bodies and throwing them over the side of the bridge but had one of them go tell the village that Gatō would no longer be a problem. As he was doing this Zabuza, Haku and Kakashi used water jutsu to wash the blood away while Hinata and Sakura started to help Tazuna and his workers on the bridge.

XXX 6 Hours Later XXX

The bridge was finished before the end of the day and in honour of the ninja that helped them they named it the Great Naruto Bridge. Squad 7 with Zabuza and Haku were now walking through Konoha towards the Hokage Tower to talk with Hiruzen. After explaining the situation to the guards Zabuza was temporarily allowed inside Konoha and, unless the Hokage said otherwise, he was to be killed on sight the next day.

"Hey Jiji we completed the mission!" Naruto exclaimed as he entered the room.

"Nice to see you back Naruto-kun," the old man said, his old eyes then turned to the ex-Swordsman. "You must be Zabuza Momochi."

"Yes Lord Hokage," he said respectfully.

"Kakashi sent me a message about why you're here and I must ask: who is your leader and is it possible for them to come here for a discussion?"

"My leader is a woman named Mei Terumī and I can send a message to her directly and have a reply in a day or so," Zabuza replied.

"Well you better go send it soon, I'll have someone show you were the Aviary is," Hiruzen said with a chuckle before tossing a scroll at the eyebrow-less man. "Should anyone ask why you or your apprentice is here show that to them."

"Thank you Lord Hokage," he said before leaving the room with Haku.

"The pay for the mission and capture of the Demon Brothers has been directly to your bank accounts," the Hokage said. "All of you can have the rest of the week off."

"Thank you Lord Hokage," they said in unison before leaving. Once they were outside of the room Kakashi led them to Ichiraku Ramen for a reward meal.

* * *

><p><strong>END<strong>

**A/N: This is my longest chapter yet at over 3,000 words so I hope you enjoyed it, if not why are you reading it? By the way if anyone's interested I was listening to Monster and Hero by Skillet and New Divide, What I've done, Faint, Numb and No More Sorrow by Linkin Park when I wrote this chapter.**

**Anyway I have finished my exams and it's the weekend so you know what that means...a whole two days of FanFiction and Call of Duty. Also suggestions for the poll are now closed so if you make a suggestion now you will look like a retard. The poll won't actually judge who gets in I just want to see who's popular and who's not. And I'm changing it now; I'll close the poll when I release Chapter 6 instead of 8 because I want to.**

**Review Replies:**

**Mzr90: Yes I will**

**Volos: Don't worry I won't make it a master-servant relationship that turns into love and sorry but I'm not going to put Zabuza with Tsunami at the moment, I might later though. And I will add all the girls you listed to the poll.**

**psychojuggalo: I will**

**theDragonBard: Yes I am**

**darkassassins619: Thanks for your condolences**

**Thanks for the reviews and please keep them coming.**

**Next chapter: Mei Terumī comes to Konoha to discuss political matters and the chūnin exams are announced. **


	5. Chapter 5

It had been three days since the Wave mission was complete and Zabuza sent word to his leader about a meeting with the Hokage. The reply had returned the same day, albeit a few hours later, saying that she would arrive in two days with two bodyguards. When she did arrive she and her bodyguards were escorted to their hotels and told they had an hour before the negotiations started.

While all this was happening the Village Elders had found out that Mei Terumī was coming for the negotiations and immediately started scheming. They knew that, with Konoha's help, she would win the Bloodline War and they could use that to force Kiri into an alliance, or rather servitude, to Konoha. So instead of having a private talk with her they forced Hiruzen to make it a meeting with the civilian council and shinobi clan heads present. To make sure Hiruzen had no time to prepare a counter they made the meeting as soon as possible, just an hour after she arrived, they claimed that while they were talking people were losing their lives and the sooner the better.

XXX An Hour After The Rebels Arrived XXX

Mei was sitting in front of the Hokage, the Village Elders, the Civilian Council and the Clan Heads with Haku sitting on her right. She had changed out of her battle uniform and into a blue dress **(The one she wears in canon)** and Haku was wearing a pink kimono **(Again, the same from canon)**. For some reason only Haku was allowed with her, the Elders had insisted that her two bodyguards and Zabuza wait outside.

She had just finished explaining everything about the war; from how it started to the most recent battles. The civilians were clearly shocked that the current Mizukage was the Jinchūriki of the Sanbi and were even more shocked that the Rebellion Leader had fought against him two times in the past.

"What do you want from us?" a Civilian Council man asked.

"Supplies such as weapons and rations as well as shinobi to aid in the battles," Mei stated calmly.

"How are you going to repay Konoha for all this," a civilian woman with pink hair asked.

"I was going to pay Konoha for its services as well as compensation for the shinobi that will die; I was also hoping that we could start trading exports and imports," she said almost desperately, she could see that they still needed a bit of convincing so she had to use her last resort. "I will also give Konoha the Three-Tails."

"Terumī-sama," Haku gasped in shock, her eyes wide. If they won the war and gave up the Three-Tails then Kiri would become the second weakest of the Five Great Ninja Villages in terms of military strength unless Konoha would agree to protect it.

"Are you sure about that?" Shikaku Nara asked. "If you give up one of Kiri's tailed beasts you'll lose a lot of military strength."

"As long as it helps finish the war I'll give up anything," she said adamantly. Hiruzen was about to accept her offer then and there but, as usual, Danzō got in his way.

"Before we agree to your terms I would like to point out that if we were to engage in your war we would lose a considerable amount of shinobi thus making the Land of Fire more vulnerable," the War Hawk said. "I was informed that the Terumī Clan was known in the Land of Water for their use of the Lava and Boil Kekkai Genkai, is this correct?"

"Yes but because of the genocide I'm the last of my clan," she answered though on the inside she was not liking where this was going.

"What about you?" Danzō asked, turning his attention to Haku. "I read Kakashi Hatake's report on Squad 7's most recent mission. In the report he claimed you were the last surviving member of the Yuki clan, which was known for the Ice Kekkai Genkai, is this true?"

"I'm the last known surviving Yuki but there might be others in hiding but it's doubtful," the young Ice user said.

"Well then I see one solution to this matter of power, once the war is over, both of you will take up permanent resident in Konoha and be placed under the Clan Restoration Act," the War Hawk said, eager to get three Kekkai Genkai. The Clan Heads eyes widened before narrowing in anger while the Hokage had already figured out what his old rival was up to.

"What is the Clan Restoration Act?" Haku asked, but she had an idea already.

"It was a law made by the First Hokage, Hashirama-sensei," Hiruzen explained. "It was to be used if a clan became near extinct or a new clan was being established. If there are only five or less members of a clan then the men would be able to take on multiple wives where as the women are turned into breeding stock."

"It's an abomination," Tsume Inuzuka muttered.

"I agree with you Tsume-san which is why I refuse to use it on Terumī-san or Haku-chan."

"You can't do that however Hokage-_sama_," Danzō said. "There has to be a vote, all those in favour of applying the law to Terumī-san and Yuki-san raise your hand."

'_No, this can't be happening,' _Mei thought as she watched the Village Elders and every member of the Civilian Council raise their hands. The vote was won by two votes.

"I'm afraid this is out of my hands," the Third said sadly. "You can choose to refuse the C.R.A but if you do Konoha will not aid you in your war."

'_What do I do?' _Mei thought, her thoughts racing through her mind. _'If I accept I'll win the war but I'll be turned into breeding stock and if I refuse I'll almost certainly lose the war. And what about Haku-chan, she's too young to go through something like this.'_

"Terumī-sama," Haku said gently, breaking the future Mizukage out of her thoughts. "Don't worry about me just do what you think is right."

"I-I accept your terms," she said after a few minutes of thinking.

"We'll send a convoy of supplies immediately and start assembling shinobi to fight," Hiruzen said. "Unfortunately the Chūnin Exams are starting next week and with the amount of foreign ninja here it is impossible to call it off so we will not be able to send our shinobi until after the exams."

"Thank you for the help, Lord Hokage," Mei said happily but on the inside she was defeated.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile across Konoha...<strong>

"Hey Gaara!" Naruto shouted as he ran towards the jinchūriki and his siblings. The Suna team stopped in their tracks and the red head turned to glare at the blonde.

"How do you know who I am?" he asked coldly.

"I know everything about you," the Konoha genin said happily, Kankurō and Temari's eyes narrowed sharply while Gaara seemed indifferent. "That's why I want to be your friend."

"What did you say?" Gaara asked, shocked.

"I said I want to be your friend."

"Why would you want to be my friend? You know nothing about me."

"I know that your father had a demon sealed inside you when you were born and your mom lost her life during the sealing. I know how nearly everyone in your village was scared of you. I know that your father kept your siblings away from you and your uncle tried to kill you in a suicide bombing. I know that since then you've felt alone and you've been trying to prove your existence by killing. But you don't have to anymore, if you'll let me I'll be your friend."

'_How does that guy know about Gaara?' _Temari thought. _'And why does he want to be his friend? There has to be something about this guy that doesn't make him afraid of Gaara.'_

'_This idiot's gonna get killed if he continues to talk to Gaara like that,' _Kankurō thought.

'_Mother, why isn't he afraid like the others?" _Gaara asked his demon.

"**Hahaha! It looks like old Kyūbi got sealed inside a child!" **the tanuki laughed.

"So Gaara are we going to be friends?" Naruto asked unsure, the Sand Siblings had been quiet for a few minutes and there had been an awkward silence.

"I'd like that," the red head replied while smirking, much to the surprise of his brother and sister. "But first what's your name?"

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki," he said while grinning.

"I hope we meet again in the chūnin exams," the red head replied before walking away with his siblings following. "Goodbye, Uzumaki."

"See ya," Naruto said before walking off in the opposite direction.

* * *

><p><strong>END<strong>

**A/N: Sorry for the poor quality and shortness of this chapter but I've had very little time to write with Christmas just around the corner and I probably won't be updating again until after New Years. I would also like to say that I finished writing this chapter two days after my last update but I wasn't happy with it so I wrote a completely different version (this one), I'm also taking my time between updates so people have longer to vote on the poll. **

**Review Replies:**

**bankai777: Unfortunately Naruto won't learn the ****Hiraishin or Rasenshuriken until, at least, Shippūden. I'm also not going to use shunpo because I personally think it's pretty much the same as the Body Flicker Jutsu.**

**MonCappy: I'm only going to comment on your views about Tsunade. First, I know that they're related through Uzumaki blood but that doesn't mean they can't get together. One example is Hashirama and Mito were married even thought they were related by blood because the Senju and the Uzumaki were distant relatives. Another example would be Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha; they were also related by blood but were still married. **

**Second I think the reason that you think Tsunade would be portrayed best as a mother figure is because that is how she's portrayed in canon but in this story she still hasn't met Naruto so I can portray their relationship differently.**

**Everyone else: Thanks for the reviews and I will take all of your suggestions/criticism into consideration. I would also like to say thanks to the people who criticised me for actually stating reasons for your criticism rather than just flaming me.**

**Next chapter: The chūnin exams begin.**


	6. Chapter 6

"This is going to be easy," Naruto said out loud as he walked with Sakura and Hinata to the first stage of the chūnin exams. They already knew there would be a crowd on the second floor due to a genjutsu so they took the long way round to avoid the crowd. The detour had only taken a few minutes longer but they were now entering the testing room. They were immediately greeted by the cold glares from most of the other participants but they ignored them and walked into the room.

"I'm surprised to see you here, billboard-brow," a certain Yamanaka heiress said as she walked towards Team 7.

"I could say the same to you Ino-pig," Sakura countered.

"Whatever, did you see Sasuke-kun on your way here?" Ino asked.

"No, but why would you be interested in that jerk?" the pinkette asked surprising the female blonde.

"Did something happen between you and Sasuke-kun?"

"No, I just lost interest with someone who ignores me and treats me coldly," Sakura explained. "Besides I've got a boyfriend now."

"Who?" Ino asked.

"Naruto-kun of course," she said before pecking Naruto on the lips to prove it, the jinchūriki blushed bright red.

"How could you!" the Yamanaka demanded rather than asked; she was clearly angry.

"What are you talking about, pig?" Sakura asked

"You know Hinata has feeling for Naruto and you just stole Naruto from her," she accused.

"Actually me and Sakura-san are sharing Naruto-kun," Hinata stated while her face lit up like a Christmas tree. Ino's mind immediately started going through different scenarios and she started staring off into space with a flushed face and blood leaking from her nose.

"She didn't mean like that you idiot!" Sakura shouted snapping Ino out of her dirty thoughts. "We're both going out with him but were not having sex."

"Hang on, I can understand Hinata going out with Naruto but why you Sakura?"

"Well I knew I wouldn't get to see Sasuke because we're on different teams so I thought I'd give Naruto a chance," she lied smoothly. "Kakashi-sensei explained that Naruto-kun was likely going to be placed under the C.R.A and he'd need a minimum of four wives. Hinata was already going out with Naruto-kun at the time but when he asked me I said yes. It turned out to be the best decision I ever made because Naruto-kun is stronger than Sasuke but unlike him Naruto-kun actually loves me and cares for me and..."

"I get it, now you're starting to sound like a romance novel," Ino said cutting her rival off. "No offence Naruto but how could you get stronger than Sasuke-kun in little over a month?"

"Sorry Ino but I can't tell you that in front of the competition," Naruto said while gesturing to the other genin. At that moment Team 8 walked through the door and into the room. Ino was tempted to throw herself at Sasuke but one thing stopped her and that was...Kiba's smell.

"Hey looks like we all made it to the chūnin exams," Kiba stated as he walked towards them with his teammates following and Shikamaru and Chōji walked over as well.

"I was wondering where you two were," Naruto said while gesturing to the male members of Team 10.

"We thought Ino and Sakura were going to start arguing so we were trying to stay away," Shikamaru explained while Chōji opened a bag of potato chips and started munching away.

"Hey you guys should keep it down," a silver haired ninja said as approached the rookies. "Hi my name's Kabuto Yakushi."

'_That bastard!' _Naruto shouted in his mind upon seeing the man who defiled the dead bodies of his fellow jinchūriki and countless others. _'I'll have to wait until the Forest of Death or the invasion and then he's a dead man.'_

"You got any intel on the other participants?" Sasuke asked, in his musings Naruto had missed Kabuto's introduction.

"Yes right here," the silver haired boy said while presenting a stack of orange cards.

"I want info on Rock Lee and Naruto Uzumaki," the last loyal Uchiha said.

"You know their name that's no fun," the glasses wearing ninja whined. In a matter of seconds he had two cards with the information present. "Let's see; Rock Lee has..."

"Hang on," Sakura suddenly said, stopping Kabuto. "You shouldn't be spreading info about ninja from your own village so carelessly. If you talk about it here than the other participants will know their skills and use it against them during the exam."

"She's right," Shikamaru agreed. "Kabuto I think you should put those cards away."

"If you insist," he said before pocketing the cards. At that moment Naruto noticed the amount of glares they were receiving from the other genin.

"Hey! What the hell are you looking at!" he shouted at them, most of them turned their glares to Naruto but one team took a more direct approach to show their dislike of the blonde. The only three ninja from Oto jumped out of the crowd and prepared to attack the jinchūriki. The leader extended his right hand forward to punch Naruto who noted he was the one with the melody arm. However the fist stopped centimetres in front of his face because Gaara had used his sand to quickly subdue them.

"If you value your lives you won't attack my friend again," Gaara threatened coldly while making his sand constrict around the genin to prove a point.

"Hey you Sound and Sand ninja better stop fighting or you'll fail the first stage before it even begins," a rough voice stated as a large man entered the room followed by two dozen chūnin.

"I'm sorry I just got a little excited," Dosu said as the sand returned to Gaara.

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again," the large man said menacingly. "I'm Ibiki Morino, your worst nightmare."

Somewhere someone screamed but it was probably an old Toad Sage that decided to take a quick peek in a hot spring but got caught and beaten worse than Naruto had as a child.

**_An hour later_**

Team 7 had passed the first exam easily having already experienced it once. They were now waiting for Ibiki to finish his explanation of what is expected from chūnin when a blob crashed through a window. The 'blob' quickly unfolded itself to make a banner and revealing Anko Mitarashi.

"Alright you maggots I'm Anko Mitarashi and I'll be your proctor for the second stage of the chūnin exams!" she shouted in a very Naruto-like fashion.

"You're early," Ibiki stated causing Anko to face fault. As she recovered she scanned the watching genin and decided to try to get payback.

"How many are there? I can't believe _you _would let all these guys pass, you must be going soft."

"Or it could be a stronger crop of candidates this year," the integrator replied.

"It doesn't matter by the end of my test less than half will be eliminated," she said sinisterly. "This is going to be fun. Alright maggots meet me at Training Ground 44 in one hour!"

* * *

><p>An hour later and all the teams were waiting in a large clearing just outside Training Ground 44, most of the genin stared at the forest beyond the electrical gate in fear where as others had a glint in their eyes but only one was different.<p>

"This is Training Ground 44," Anko announced. "It's also known as...the Forest of Death."

"It doesn't look so bad," Naruto said having experienced worse in his childhood. A kunai flew past him and grazed his cheek, a small drop of blood trickled down his cheek.

"Its punks like you that are usually the first to die," Anko stated as she appeared behind the jinchūriki with a kunai to his neck. She seductively licked the drop of blood from his cheek causing most of the males in the vicinity to glare with jealousy or stare in fear. "You're blood is among the best I've ever tried. I hope you don't die in there, blood tastes better when it's fresh."

"What are you, crazy?" Naruto practically screamed at her.

"Just a little," she replied with a bloodthirsty grin. Without looking Anko pulled out a kunai and prepared to stab the Kusa-nin that appeared behind the snake summoner with her tongue wrapped around a kunai.

"I was just returning your kunai," the grass-nin said, still with her freakishly long tongue sticking out.

"Thanks but don't sneak up on me again unless you have a death wish," Anko said cheerfully freaking out most of the genin. She took the kunai from the foreign ninja who stepped back immediately. The ex-pupil of Orochimaru then returned her attention to the blonde jinchūriki. "You have something to say?"

"Yeah, when can we start the second stage?" Naruto asked, not intimidated.

"Well since you asked so nicely," Anko said, she took the kunai away from his neck and returned it to her weapons pouch before starting her explanation of the second stage. After she was finished waivers were handed out amongst the genin that they had to sign in order to take the exam. The teams then exchanged the waivers for a Heaven/Earth scroll and told which gate to go to. At exactly 3pm the gates opened at the teams entered the Forest of Death eager to start the second stage.

* * *

><p><strong>END<strong>

**A/N: Surprisingly I finished this chapter in under an hour today so I managed to get it out sooner and I'm sorry if it seems like I rushed the end but I really didn't feel like writing Anko's explanation of the Second Stage or the events between getting the scroll and the exam starting. Also the poll is closed now so check out the results on my profile but again it was just to see who was popular, it doesn't decide who gets in or not.**

**Review replies:**

**linkfx: Sorry I made him seem like a push over but I didn't really think it through.**

**Rixxell Stryfe: I was originally planning on having Yagura killed but you've given me an idea so thanks.**

**Deathmvp: I don't think the CRA would work on one woman either that's why I stated that there had to be five or less clan members.**

**Everyone else: Thanks for the reviews and I will take all of your suggestions/criticism into consideration. I would also like to say thanks to the people who criticized me for actually stating reasons for your criticism rather than just flaming me.**

**Next time: The second stage of the chūnin exams.**


	7. Chapter 7

Two hours into the second stage Naruto, Sakura and Hinata were currently searching the forest for Team 8. Why? Because they knew Orochimaru would try to plant the curse seal on Sasuke soon and they had to stop that from happening at all costs. Hinata had her Byakugan activated and was looking out for the Uchiha while Naruto and Sakura tried to remember where the battle between the genin and Sannin would take place.

"Sasuke's up ahead," Hinata reported as soon as Sasuke came into range of her Byakugan. "He's fighting Orochimaru with Kiba and Akamaru but Shino seems injured."

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked.

"I think he has a broken leg."

"What's the plan?" Naruto asked his girlfriends.

"Me and Hinata will get Shino out of there while you help dog boy and Sasuke," Sakura said.

At that moment they landed on a tree just out of view from where the battle was taking place. Sakura and Hinata immediately leapt down to get Shino while Naruto watched the battle between Orochimaru and Sasuke and Kiba. He was surprised to see that Sasuke wasn't using any of his fire style ninjutsu but was instead distracting the snake with genjutsu while Kiba with Akamaru tried to attack using his clan's jutsu. The strategy seemed fairly efficient because while Orochimaru was distracted dispelling the genjutsu Kiba and his dog could land a few hits but Naruto knew from experience that it would require more than that to kill the traitor.

"Kiba move!" Sasuke shouted suddenly. The Inuzuka and his dog leapt away but Orochimaru ignored them and turned towards Sasuke while grinning.

"So you want to fight me one on one?" he the near immortal asked, Sasuke ignored him and glared at him, his Sharingan active with one tomoe in one eye and two in the other. "You'll never be able to beat me by yourself, Sasuke-kun."

"I've already won," the Uchiha replied but unlike usual he didn't sound cocky or arrogant. The forest surrounding Orochimaru started to melt revealing a wall of fire; everywhere he looked he could only see fire but he could also see something moving around in the raging inferno. That's when he saw the thing that terrified him the most; out of the fire stepped all nine of the tailed beasts. He immediately thought he was trapped in a genjutsu and started trying to break it but found he couldn't; he flared his chakra, bit his lip till it bled and broke one of his fingers but nothing would cause it to break.

'_There's no way he could of actually sent me to hell with the tailed beasts,'_Orochimaru thought but he was slowly starting to panic because nothing he did would break the genjutsu he thought he was in. _'This can't be a genjutsu or it would have broken by now. Is this why he told his teammate to leave, so he wouldn't be caught in the jutsu? But where did he get this jutsu, is it a secret from the Uchiha clan's history?'_

"Finally something to kill!"the Yonbi shouted, breaking the traitor out of his thoughts just in time to see the massive fist coming towards him. Just as the fist made contact there was an explosion.

"Giant Rasengan!" Naruto shouted as he and a clone smashed the attack into Orochimaru's head from above. The resulting explosion sent Orochimaru's limp body towards the ground at incredible speed with large chunks of wood following down, burying the Sannin under a tonne of timber.

Naruto's clone disappeared in a puff of smoke while the real blonde clung onto the branch he had just destroyed. The attack had taken almost all of his chakra to use and the Kyūbi was still sleeping in the seal so he wasn't going to be able to use jutsu for a few hours. The blonde managed to haul himself onto the branch and then collapsed onto one knee so he was kneeling. He turned his head slightly to see Sasuke was in the same boat as him, the Uchiha had also collapsed due to chakra exhaustion.

"Hey Naruto are you alright?" Kiba asked as he landed next to him.

"I'm fine...I just used...too much chakra," the jinchūriki replied between gasps for air. "Shouldn't you...be helping...your teammate?"

"Well Sakura and Hinata are healing Shino's leg," the Inuzuka replied.

"I meant...Sasuke."

"He'll be fine; he just used too much chakra. Kurenai-sensei said that he developed a technique that uses his Sharingan to hypnotize his opponent and make them more susceptible to genjutsu, then he uses an A-rank variation of the Hell Viewing Jutsu to make his opponent experience a vision Sasuke controls. But sensei also said that it takes a lot out of him so she's forbidden him from using it except in emergencies."

"Guess we're lucky then," Naruto said as he finally caught his breath. At that moment Orochimaru's head and extended neck burst out of the wooden tomb and stretched towards the exhausted Uchiha. Sasuke couldn't move because he was exhausted so he couldn't dodge the rapidly approaching attack. The Snake Sannin sunk his fangs into the boy's neck and as he pulled away he smiled manically as the Uchiha started clutching his neck in agony as it felt like he had just been injected with acid.

"You'll seek me out soon enough but first you have to beat the three sound ninja that work for me," Orochimaru said while his head returned to his body. Soon enough he was gone but Sasuke's screams of pain continued to echo through the forest until he eventually fell unconscious.

"What the hell did that freak do to him?" Kiba asked out loud but Naruto ignored him.

'_Damn it that bastard Orochimaru managed to plant the curse seal on him,' _Naruto thought. _'It was all for nothing!'_

"Naruto-kun, are you alright?" Hinata asked urgently as she and Sakura approached.

"I'm fine, I just used too much chakra," the blonde replied.

"You baka!" Sakura shouted at him angrily while lightly hitting him on the back of his head. "Don't scare us next time."

"Sorry Sakura-chan," he said while smiling sheepishly.

"I'll just leave," Kiba said awkwardly before jumping over to Sasuke where Shino was already trying to move him.

"What do we do?" Hinata asked as they watched Team 8 leave.

"They should be able to handle the Sound Ninja that go after Sasuke," Sakura said while briefly remembering what happened when she had to face them. "We should go after Kabuto and his team."

"We won't have to if we follow Team 8," Naruto replied. "Remember, Kabuto showed up just before I opened a scroll and helped us get to the tower. Besides with the amount of chakra I have left we wouldn't stand a chance against him and his team."

"So we follow Team 8 but how will we get a Heaven Scroll?" Hinata asked.

"I think we could get one off of the Oto team or the Ame team," Sakura answered.

"Guess we should start following them," Naruto said before standing up on shaking legs. He was about to go after team 8 but Hinata and Sakura stopped him.

"Naruto-kun you need to rest," Sakura said in her 'nurse' voice.

"But we might not be able to find them later," the blonde complained.

"I can see nearly the whole forest with my Byakugan so we don't have to worry about losing them," Hinata said reassuringly.

"Fine," Naruto grumbled before sitting back down.

"We'll rest for an hour or so then we can go after them, besides the Oto team won't encounter them until morning," Sakura said logically.

"Whatever you say Sakura-chan."

- Meanwhile in the Hokage's Office -

"Do you know why you were summoned here?" Hiruzen asked.

"We were told it was to discuss our future here in Konoha, Hokage-sama," Mei answered.

"To be more specific it's about your participation in the CRA," Hiruzen said. "The council has already sent word to the Daimyō so there's no way for you to get out of it however I managed to find a loophole. The act states that those placed under the CRA must produce children with members of shinobi clans however I know for a fact none of the clans will accept the CRA so both of you would be forced to marry civilians. However there are also two other ninja that will be placed under the CRA and fortunately both are male. Sasuke is the last of the Uchiha clan and Naruto is the last of the Uzumaki clan, both of them are twelve years old so that gives you both four years to try to get to know which ever one you choose. They are both in the Second Stage of the chūnin exams right now so you'll be able to meet them at the end of the week but I believe Haku has already met Naruto."

"He's the one who convinced Zabuza-sama to come to Konoha," the ice user replied.

"Hokage-sama, I would like to choose my husband now," Mei stated. "I would like to marry Uzumaki-sama."

"Are you sure you want to choose Naruto? You haven't even met him yet."

"I'm sure. The Terumī clan owes the Uzumaki clan a lot and I will willingly marry Uzumaki-sama to settle this dept."

"Alright then I'll sort out the paper work, Haku would you also like to choose your husband now or would you prefer to meet them first?"

"I would like to meet them first, Hokage-sama," she replied.

"Very well, Haku you can meet both of them when the second stage finishes and Mei you can meet Naruto at the same time."

"Thank you Lord Hokage," they both said before exiting the room.

* * *

><p><strong>END<strong>

**I finally got this chapter out! I'm sorry I took so long, I admit I was a bit lazy and I was in an accident two days ago, nothing too major just a fractured rib and a broken finger. I also wasn't originally gonna have the scene between Hiruzen, Haku and Mei but I decided to add it in anyway, hope you enjoyed it. And I have a question: Should I have Sasuke die during the invasion? Leave your answer in a review.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed.**

**Next chapter: The end of the second stage and the prelims.**


	8. Chapter 8

Team 7 walked through the entrance to the Tower in the exact centre of the Forest of Death. They had stalked Team 8 for the past few days; from watching them take care of Team Dosu to meeting Kabuto and dealing with the Rain ninja. They already knew what to do so they took out a Heaven and an Earth scroll and opened them on the floor before quickly backing away. In a large plume of smoke Iruka appeared smiling proudly at the genin.

"Congratulations! You three have passed the second stage of the chūnin exams," he declared happily while adding in his mind. _'With only seconds to spare.'_

After the greetings were over the chūnin instructor led his former students to the main room. The same teams as last time were here with the only difference being that Zaku's arms weren't broken this time.

Things went the same as the first time; the Hokage gave a speech, they were told they had to participate in semi-finals before the third exam, Kabuto forfeited and the first match was Sasuke versus Yoroi. The fight was the same as before with Sasuke finishing his opponent with Lion's Barrage.

The board then went through names again before stopping on Chōji and Misumi. The fight was short and quick. Misumi tried to strangle the Akimichi by wrapping his body around the boy however Chōji simply used the Human Boulder Jutsu and flattened him.

The next match was between Kiba with Akamaru and Neji. The fight consisted of them both using their clan's styles of nin-taijutsu and trying to overpower the other. Neji won by using his Byakugan to block or evade the Inuzuka's attacks and then counter.

The following match pitted Zaku against Shikamaru however the Nara gave up saying he knew he couldn't beat the Oto ninja.

Next were Shino and Dosu. The match lasted a while but Dosu eventually won by using his Melody Arm to disorient the Aburame and his insects before they could sap away all his chakra.

Sakura was against Ino like last time but, unlike last time, she didn't fall for Ino's trick. She made sure to stay far away from the blonde's cut hair and then delivered a punch to her face knocking the Yamanaka out cold.

Hinata was then faced against Kankurō. For most of the match she was winning but she was hit by one of Crow's poison needles. She continued to fight but eventually the poison caused her to collapse however Kankurō gave her the antidote after he was declared the winner.

Gaara and Lee were facing each other next and the fight went the same as before except that Gaara didn't crush Lee's arm or leg; he simply kept him immobile until Lee conceded defeat. This left his siblings and sensei shocked that he would simply let such a strong opponent walk away.

Temari was forced to shake of her shock at her brother's actions when she was called to fight Tenten. The match was the same as the first time with Temari easily overpowering the weapon specialist.

The final match was between Naruto and Kin. The Oto kunoichi tried to use her senbon and genjutsu to win but Naruto defeated her by creating an army of shadow clones.

After he was declared the winner the Hokage gave another speech and explained how the third stage would work. They were then given numbers to determine who their opponents would be. The matches were between Naruto and Neji, Gaara and Zaku, Temari and Sakura, Kankurō and Dosu, and finally Sasuke and Chōji. They were given a month to prepare and then most of the genin left with their sensei but the Hokage had asked Naruto to stay behind.

"What do you want old man?" the blonde asked curiously.

"I have some important matters to discuss with you about your future," he said with a smile on his face but Naruto could have sworn he could detect a perverse undertone in the Hokage's voice. "At the meeting discussing Konoha aiding Terumī-san in the war in Kiri it was revealed her and Haku are the last of their clans. Danzō managed to force them to move to Konoha and they are both being placed under the CRA. I'll explain the details later but I managed to find a loophole but it would mean that they'd have to marry you or Sasuke. Terumī-san wants you to marry her and Haku wants to meet Sasuke first. But the crucial thing I want you to understand is that if Sasuke and you refuse to take either of them as wives then they'll be used as breeding stock."

"Don't worry old man; I'll happily accept Mei-chan as my wife and Haku as well if Sasuke says no."

"I also want you to remember something very important; the CRA states you have to have a minimum of 4 wives however it doesn't say what the maximum is, understand?"

'_He's worse than Pervy-Sage,' _Naruto thought with a sweat drop at his grandfather-figure.

"I-I understand."

"Good cause you're living every man's dream so take advantage of it."

xxx 2 hours later at Training Ground 3 xxx

"Hey Kakashi-sensei can you train me for the final stage of the chūnin exams?" Naruto asked.

"Sorry Naruto but I'm training Sakura, if you want I can find a replacement?"

"Nah I'll just find someone myself," the blonde said before walking away. He walked around for a while trying to find someone who could train him. He knew he could just go find Jiraiya at the hot springs but he didn't feel like getting pushed over a cliff just yet. As he was walking he spotted Zabuza walking around with someone he remembered as Chōjūrō.

"Hey Zabuza!" Naruto shouted as he ran up to the swordsman.

"What do you want brat?" he asked.

"Zabuza-senpai you shouldn't talk to Mei-sama's future husband like that," the younger Kiri-nin said.

"Grow some backbone Chōjūrō," Zabuza stated before returning his attention to the jinchūriki. "So what do you want?"

"I was wondering if you could train me for the exams." Naruto asked, his eyes filled with hope.

"No," he stated bluntly.

"Why not Zabuza-senpai? You've got nothing else to do," the glasses wearing ninja said.

"I will never teach that brat as long as he wears that orange jumpsuit, until he dresses like a shinobi I won't teach him as a shinobi."

"So if I wear something else you'll teach me?"

"Yes."

"Meet me back here in an hour," Naruto said before running off to find the nearest clothing store.

xxx Meanwhile with Haku xxx

The heiress of the Yuki clan walked through the hospital with the Hokage. She was going to meet her possible future husband. As she was walking she was thinking about what she had heard about him. Sakura and Hinata had claimed that he was handsome but he was as emotional as a cube of ice and equally as cold, while most council members said his emotional state was just a phase and she would be better off marrying Sasuke instead of Naruto. However Haku didn't believe in judging people from other people's opinions which is why she was going to meet him so she could decide for herself.

"Would you like me to wait outside?" Hiruzen asked as they stood outside the room where he was resting.

"Yes please Hokage-sama," she replied. She opened the door and walked inside to see the Uchiha getting out of the bed.

"What do you want?" he asked rudely.

"I'm from Kiri and I'm in the CRA like you and you're one of my choices as a husband so I wanted to meet you before I made my decision."

"You're wasting my time, why would I want a weakling like you as my wife?" Sasuke asked coldly, surprising Haku. "Konoha is the strongest of the five major villages whereas Kiri is fourth so why would I want someone from your nation especially you. You're the last of your clan because the rest got wiped out so that must mean your clan was weak."

"My clan was not weak," Haku stated angrily. "And what about you; you're the only surviving member of the Uchiha clan whereas all the other clans here are growing. The Uchiha must have been weaker than the rest of the clans in this village if they were wiped out."

"SHUT UP!" Sasuke shouted, in an instant he appeared in front of Haku and was about to punch her in the face but she caught his fist.

"You were right, I was wasting my time on you," she said before letting go of his hand and walking out of the room.

* * *

><p><strong>END<strong>

**A/N: I'm sorry for not updating this in over a month but I had writers block. I couldn't figure out what to do for the rest of the second stage so I decided to skip it because I knew a lot of you wanted me to update. I also wanted to get this chapter out of the way as soon as possible so I'm sorry if it seems rushed.**

**Anyway the majority of you guys want me to kill Sasuke off so I will.**

**I'll try updating as soon as possible but I'm as lazy as Shikamaru plus there's going to be a new map for MW3 in a few days. **

**Review replies:**

**Rixxel Stryfe: Unfortunately I can't have Sasuke go curse seal level 2 cause he needs to take the pill that the Sound Four gave him.**

**the DragonBard: Orochimaru's survived being torn in half, the Shinigami and Tsunade's chakra enhanced punches (Also to the head) so I think he could survive a Rasengan to the head, even if barely he could just heal himself. Besides would you want me to kill him off so soon?**

**Thanks to everyone else who reviewed.**

**Next chapter: The third exam and the invasion begins.**


	9. Chapter 9

**IMPORTANT: I messed up the last chapter, for more detail read the Author's note at the end.**

Naruto was walking through the streets of Konoha after buying his new clothes which he kept in his bag. The shop had overcharged the already expensive clothes but thanks to the mission fee and bonus' he got from the Wave mission he was able to afford them. As he was walking he noticed the Oto genin talking in a nearby alleyway. He was going to ignore them but them but stopped when he heard one of them crying, specifically the girl; Kin Tsuchi. He went back and checked into the alleyway to see that Zaku and Dosu had left and Kin was crying into her hands behind a dumpster. Being the caring person he was he walked, slowly, into the alleyway so as not to make her panic. She looked at him and as soon as she did she glared at him with hate.

"What do you want?" she asked angrily but the tears continued to stream down her face.

"I just wanted to check that you were ok," Naruto replied trying to be friendly. "Do you need any help?"

"Why would I need help from _you_? You're the cause of my problem."

"Me? What did I do?" he asked confused.

"I was the only one on my team not get into the third exam and because of that my leader is going to kill me," she said. "I have until the end of this month and then I'm going to die."

'_Orochimaru is going to use her as one of his sacrifices for his Summoning: Reanimation because of me,' _Naruto thought, he suddenly felt extremely guilty.

"I'm sorry," he said simply but he caught her off guard. "If I knew what would have happened to you I would've given up."

"Don't…just don't lie."

"But it's the truth, I…"

"Why?" she asked cutting him off. "Why would you give up your chance of becoming chūnin to save me? We're not from the same village and I don't know you. You have no reason to."

"I've seen people die before," he stated while the faces of his deceased friends flashed through his mind. "I know how it affects their relatives and their friends. You must have someone close to you and if I let you die that person would come after me for revenge but then my village would protect me and then your village would retaliate until finally war breaks out and even more people die. It would become a never ending cycle of hate and I'd do anything to prevent that happening."

Kin was left speechless at his words. She didn't know how he knew something like that but the way he said it made it seem like he'd experienced it already. And when she looked into his eyes she realized that he held the pain of losing people precious to him.

"I guess I'll just leave," she said, her voice filled with sadness. She turned around and started to walk away.

"Wait," Naruto said gently, she turned and looked at him expectantly. "If your leader is going to kill you why not leave Oto?"

"I've got two friends back there and if I leave they'll be devastated. They can't leave either; one of them is devoted to our leader and the other is one of our leader's five elite bodyguards."

'_So the only reason she's staying is because of her friends who are both connected to Orochimaru,' _Naruto thought, trying to figure out an answer. _'If Orochimaru dies then Kin and her friends will be free but that's easier said than done. I'm gonna have to figure out a way to stop Orochimaru using the Summoning; Reanimation but I only have a month to get strong enough and I'll only have one opportunity.'_

"Hey Kin I…" he started before he realized she had left while he was thinking. "I guess I'll just have to get as strong as I can during the month and hope Kami's on my side."

XXX In a hotel XXX

'_Mother what should I do?' _Gaara asked his, literal, inner demon. He'd been spying on the Uzumaki with an eye made of sand at Shukaku's request and now he was growing concerned for his friend.

"**Don't do anything, if Kyūbi thinks she's the strongest than she and her jinchūriki don't need our help," **the tailed beast replied.

* * *

><p><strong>END<strong>

**A/N: I'm really sorry this chapter is so short but it was supposed to be at the end of the last chapter but I forgot about it and only realized now. I also forgot to mention that Hinata lost against Kankurō because one of Crow's poison needles hit her in the Byakugan's blind spot.**

**To make up for my mistakes and my lack of activity recently I'll post the next chapter at the same time as this one. **

**Also I know I said that I'd kill Sasuke off during the invasion but I'm gonna keep him alive for a bit longer because I've gotten an idea that'll make the story more interesting. Don't worry though I'll make sure to kill him off before the time skip.**

**And before I forget I should warn all of my readers that I will be using Zangetsu (the sword) and Getsuga Tenshou from Bleach, which I don't own. **

**Review replies:**

**iFrix: Naruto will get the toad summoning again but I'm gonna wait until the start of the Search for Tsunade arc.**

**dbzsotrum9: No, sorry.**

**ferduran: I would but no one has taken them up.**

**Thanks to everyone else who reviewed and, at a request, here's the current list for the harem:**

**Hinata**

**Sakura**

**Tayuya**

**Kin**

**Guren**

**Tsunade (I'll make her young again)**

**Mei Terumī**

**Female Haku**

**Temari**

**Kurotsuchi**

**Samui**

**Female Kyūbi**

**Yugao Uzuki**

**Yugito Nii + Female Nibi**

**Shizuka**

**Konan**

**Shizune**

**Ino (Possibly)**

**Isaribi (Possibly)**

**I haven't made up my mind on Ino or Isaribi yet so tell me if you want them or not. And for those of you who think this harem is too big then don't read if you don't like.**

**Next chapter: Time skip of about a month**


	10. Chapter 10

A month had passed since the preliminaries and now nine of the ten finalists stood in the arena. The only one missing was Naruto but no one had seen him, Zabuza or Chōjūrō since the day the preliminaries ended.

The spectators were talking amongst themselves and some were making bets on who they thought would win. Within the crowd three women were looking for a sign of their future husband, wondering where he was while the fourth one was in the arena.

'_Where is he?' _Sakura thought, she was beginning to get nervous. After the first chūnin exam Naruto had told her about his mishaps with Konohamaru and a stampede but she doubted the same thing would happen now. _'He was probably training and lost track of time.'_

"What's wrong, are you worried for your loser of a boyfriend?" Sasuke asked with smirk on his face.

"Don't talk about Naruto-kun like that or I'll…"

"You'll what? You wouldn't even be able to touch an elite like me."

"Hopefully we'll be able to see if you're wrong or not," she returned while thinking. _'How could I have ever liked that guy?'_

At that moment the Hokage announced the start of the exams and when he finished Genma explained the rules.

"Seeing as Naruto isn't here I'm gonna have to…"

"Wait!" someone shouted as they ran into the arena. It was Naruto but he shocked a lot of people. His normal orange jumpsuit had been replaced by a black short sleeved long coat similar to the Yondaime's under which he wore a black long sleeved shirt with the Uzumaki clan symbol on the right sleeve, black shinobi pants and his blue sandals had been swapped for black ones. However everyone noticed that his usually tan skin seemed paler and he had bandages around his neck which ran down under his shirt and they had blood stains on them. "Did I…make it?"

"Barely," Genma replied. "Will everyone other than Neji Hyūga and Naruto Uzumaki please go to the waiting area."

"Good luck Naruto-kun," Sakura said cheerfully as she walked past him.

"Thanks Sakura-chan," he replied with a smile. After the others had left the two opponents faced each other.

"Begin!" Genma shouted while jumping off to the side. Naruto threw three kunai at the Hyūga prodigy and when Neji tried to block them they turned into clones of the blonde shinobi. Each of the clones threw a punch at the Hyūga but he managed to dodge and then dispel the clones.

"Don't think something like that will be enough to beat me," Neji stated arrogantly. Naruto simply smirked and took out a scroll from his pocket.

"This is what I've been working on for the last month and with it I'll be able to beat you easily," the blonde declared.

"It doesn't matter how much you try, you were destined to lose this fight."

"If that's true then you'll let me open this scroll."

"Go ahead, it won't matter," he said adamantly, Naruto grinned and opened the scroll revealing it to be a storage scroll. He bit his thumb and smeared the blood over the seal. A small cloud of smoke emerged from the scroll and Naruto pulled a sword out of it. The sword looked like an oversized elegant cleaver that had a black blade with a silver edge, and it had no guard or hilt, only a cloth covered tang.

"You think an oversized knife is going to beat me?" Neji asked sarcastically before he could continue however Naruto rushed forward and swung his sword forward. The Hyūga dodged it and the blade sunk deep into the ground. While Naruto was pulling his sword free Neji darted forward and attempted to strike a chakra point only for his fingers to smash into the flat side of the blade. Naruto then tried to slash him across his chest but he jumped back. Naruto went after him and brought his sword down only to be stopped inches away from Neji's face; the Hyūga then proceeded to spin creating a wall of spiralling chakra around himself blowing Naruto off his feet.

'_I almost forgot about that,' _Naruto thought as he watched Neji stop spinning.

"I told you it's impossible for you to win," Neji said. "Give up while you still have some dignity."

"Wind Style: Getsuga Tenshou!" Naruto shouted sending a blast of concentrated wind at the Hyūga prodigy but he blocked the attack with Rotation. While he was distracted Naruto ran forward and just as Neji's move finished the jinchūriki brought his sword down on his neck but stopped before it landed. "I win; if I continued with that attack you'd be dead and headless by now."

"I-Impossible," Neji stuttered like a certain cousin of his used to. "H-How did y-you?"

"I figured your jutsu used a lot of chakra so you could only use it for a short amount of time and when you finish you're left vulnerable for a few seconds. I simply timed my attack to take advantage of that time frame," the blonde explained. Left unsaid was that he figured out the window of opportunity from spars against Neji in the past/future.

"Naruto Uzumaki wins!" Genma announced, most of the crowd cheered for the impressive fight while others were left speechless at how fast the match was. Naruto resealed his sword then he and Neji walked off of the battle field as Gaara and Zaku walked onto it.

**(I don't feel like going into detail about each fight so I'm gonna put quick summaries.)**

As soon as the match started Zaku attacked but Gaara blocked and then sent most of the sand shooting towards Zaku overpowering him easily ensnaring him in sand. When he didn't give up immediately Gaara slowly began to crush the Oto nin until he finally surrendered.

In the next match Sakura, a close range specialist, was easily able to defeat Temari, a long range specialist, by getting close and using her enhanced taijutsu to knock her out.

Kankurō forfeited his match against Dosu.

The final match between Sasuke and Chōji was over quickly. Sasuke placed a genjutsu over the Akimichi and then knocked him out.

"The next match is between Naruto and Sasuke," Genma announced.

"What? I'm supposed to be fighting Gaara!" Naruto shouted.

"The Hokage decided it would be best to have a random selection instead," Genma said. "The new line up is Naruto vs. Sasuke, Sakura vs. Dosu and Gaara will fight the winner between the second fight."

'_I get it,'_ Naruto thought after thinking about it. _'The old man doesn't want two jinchūriki fighting with so many civilians around.'_

"It doesn't matter, the dope won't be able to beat me," Sasuke said arrogantly.

"We'll see," Naruto said before jumping into the arena with the last 'loyal' Uchiha behind him. They turned to face each other and waited.

"Begin!" Genma shouted. Immediately they jumped away from each other and Sasuke started going through hand seals.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu," he shouted, sending a ball of raging flames at the blonde. Naruto avoided the attack by jumping over it and then threw ten kunai at his opponent. Sasuke dodged all of them using his Sharingan before sending another fireball at Naruto, who was still in the air. The blonde created a shadow clone and used it to jump out of the way leaving the clone to take the attack. While he was in the air he unsealed his sword and sent a Getsuga Tenshou towards Sasuke who dodged it but got hit by some of the debris from the where the attack impacted the ground. Naruto landed on the ground and prepared another attack to end it but stopped when a large cloud of smoke enveloped the Kage Box and the _Kazekage _leapt onto the roof with the Hokage as his hostage. Suna and Oto ninja jumped out of their disguises in the crowd and started attacking Konoha ninja.

"You're mine!" Dosu shouted as he leapt towards Naruto with his melody arm at the ready. Just before his fist hit it stopped centimetres away from his face exactly the same way as before the first exam.

"I told you not to attack my friend if you value your life," Gaara said coldly before he crushed Dosu with his sand.

"You traitor," Dosu managed to wheeze out before the sand crushed him completely.

"Gaara what are you doing?" Temari asked in surprise.

"I'm helping Uzumaki, that's what friends are for after all," he replied. "If you try to stop me I'll kill you."

"I-I don't have a problem with it," Temari and Kankurō both said nervously.

"Hey Gaara you think you could help me save the old man?" Naruto asked while gesturing to the Kage box.

"Sure," the Suna nin said while sand poured out of his gourd and accumulated under their feet.

* * *

><p><strong>END<strong>


End file.
